China

In China, the series is known in Mandarin as "火車頭日記" (Huǒchētóu rìjì) which translates to "Locomotive Diary". The series was later reintroduced as "托马斯和朋友" (Tuōmǎsī hé péngyǒu), meaning "Thomas and Friends". The series is narrated by Jiang Guangtao.

Trivia

The Mandarin narrations of the first season credit Ringo Starr as the narrator and the fourth season credits George Carlin as the narrator, even though they were re-dubbed. The opening credits of the eighth to twelfth seasons also credit Michael Angelis as the narrator even though it was re-dubbed.

Thomas and Friends is one of the very few television programmes originally produced in English to have aired in mainland China, not including Hong Kong or Macau. This is due to China's efforts to protect their own film industry.

The first twenty books of The Railway Series were translated into Mandarin, making it one of the few other languages that the series has been translated into.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, both the British English dub and a local Cantonese dub entitled "湯馬仕小火車" are shown, literally translating to "Thomas the Little Train". Additionally, home media releases in Hong Kong have both British English and Cantonese audio.

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, the series is known by several names, the most common being "Lokomotiva Tomáš" and "Mašinka Tomáš" (both roughly translating to "Locomotive Thomas"). It used to be known as "Tomáš a přátelé" (meaning Thomas and Friends) in the first and third seasons, or "Tom a jeho přátelé" (meaning Tom and his Friends) in the second season. The first to third seasons were narrated by Radovan Vaculík and since the fourth season it has been narrated by Bohuslav Kalva. The Thomas & Friends episodes were all aired on Minimax.

Character Names

Thomas - Tomáš (first season onwards, excluding the second season)/Tom (second season only)

In Finland, the series is known as "Tuomas Veturi" ("Thomas the Locomotive") and is currently narrated by Aku Laitinen who also voices Sir Topham Hatt with a Finnish voice cast since the thirteenth season. The series is not very popular in Finland. The earlier seasons aired on Nelonen. The thirteenth to fifteenth seasons currently air on MTV Katsomo.

In French, the series is known as "Thomas et ses Amis" or "Thomas le Petit Train" (Thomas the Small Train). The first five seasons were narrated by Gérard Boucaron and all seasons beyond included both a narrator and voice actors. Blanche Ravalec later narrated the series between the sixth season and the fifteenth season. Since the sixteenth seasonPhilippe Catoire has narrated the series. In France, the series used to be shown on France 5 until the end of the fifteenth season; since then it has been broadcast on Gulli from the sixteenth season onwards. The fifteenth season was also re-aired on Gulli and was re-narrated by Philippe Catoire.

During production of the fourteenth season, some of the episodes from the sixth and seventh seasons were redone with the current voice cast.

In Germany the series is known as "Thomas, die kleine Lokomotive" (Thomas the Small Locomotive) or "Thomas und seine Freunde" (Thomas and His Friends). In the first five seasons, Thomas is also sometimes called "Thomas die Rangierlokomotive" (literally: "Thomas the Shunting Engine"), but since the eighth season, he has been called a "Tenderlok" (tank engine). It was narrated by Manfred Steffen from the first season to the fifth. From the eighth season to Journey Beyond Sodor, Sky du Mont has narrated it. Big World! Big Adventures! is called "Große Welt! Große Abenteuer!", a literal translation.

In 1981, The Three Railway Engines and Thomas the Tank Engine were translated in one book called "Thomas die Tenderlok" (Thomas the tank engine) by Josef Guggenmos. The classic series was translated by Thomas Karallus. From the eight season to the twentieth, it was translated by Henning Stegelmann who was also the voice director and still is. Only King of the Railway was translated by Sascha Draeger and the seventeenth and eighteenth seasons as well as Tale of the Brave was translated by Cindy Beier, who was also the voice director for said productions and Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure. Tammo Kaulbarsch translated Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and the songs from Journey Beyond Sodor as well as directing the latter. Season 22 was translated by Regina Kette.

The local train is now the "Regionalzug" (regional train) rather than the "Nahverkehrszug" (local train).

The Breakdowntrain is now the "Pannenzug" (Breakdowntrain) rather than the "Unfallzug" (Accidenttrain).

Season 22:

James now says "Here comes James!" instead of "Here is James!".

Merlin now calls the Island of Sodor "Sona" instead of "Soda", like in Journey Beyond Sodor.

The Fat Controller is known as "der dicke Kontrolleur" in Germany, but a "Kontrolleur" is actually a guard.

Calling all Engines! was released between the ninth and the tenth seasons, The Great Discovery between the twelfth and thirteenth seasons, Hero of the Rails between the thirteenth and fourteenth seasons, Misty Island Rescue during the fourteenth season, Tale of the Brave during the seventeenth season and Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure during the eighteenth season.

King of the Railway and Tale of the Brave were released in the same year.

In the opening of season 5, the scene that showes the episode title is a freeze frame rather than a moving picture. As a result, Thomas is not seen in that scene.

When the fourteenth season was released on DVD in Germany, all the title cards had a different font, their position changed from the bottom to the middle and Being Percy even had a different name, than on the TV version, though the narrator's line reading the title was not re-recorded.

In the opening credits for the twentieth season, Dianna Basso's name is misspelled "Diana".

In Greece, the show is called "Τόμας το Τρενάκι" (Tomas To Trenaki) which when literally translated means "Thomas the Small Train". It is narrated by Vina Papadopoulou, with character voices performed by Loukas Frangoulis.

Voice Cast

Trivia

The live action seasons feature a female voice actor who provides narration and female voices, while a male narrator provides voices for all male characters.

The second to fifth and eighth seasons intro featured scenes of Gordon, Henry and Edward over the first few seconds of the usual intro, so the title could be edited, as HiT did not provide a blank intro. In the original intro (first and second seasons), only the logo was changed.

The eighth season has the original intro.

Some DVD releases feature a blank version of the edited intro.

All episodes from the first to fifth seasons are listed in the credits as being made in 1984.

DVD releases of eighth season episodes feature the new theme during the credits, despite the original theme playing during the intro.

Ringo Starr is credited as narrator on all episodes from the first to fifth and eighth seasons; despite only narrating the first two in English. Michael Angelis is also credited from the thirteenth season as well.

All television broadcasts of episodes from the first to fifth and eighth seasons have the Thomas and Gordon title card.

On most DVD releases of the eighth season, the first episode has the Thomas and Gordon title card.

Some DVD releases of the eighth season, the bridge scene where the title card usually appears is cut out and replaced by the eighth season style title card.

Trivia

Hungary

Hungarian logo

In Hungary, the series is known as "Thomas a Gőzmozdony" which means "Thomas the Steam Engine". It is also known as "Thomas és Baratai" which means "Thomas and Friends." It was first broadcasted on Minimax in 2006 and was later broadcasted on M1 and recently on JimJamTV. It is narrated by János Bata in the first three seasons and Zoltán Csankó in the fourth season onward.

Trivia

The Engine Roll Call was not translated into Hungarian, except during the opening titles.

In the opening, Ringo Starr and Michael Angelis are credited as the narrators even though it was re-dubbed.

Since Hero of the Rails, uncredited voice actors have performed the character's voices.

The twelfth season, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and The Adventure Begins were never dubbed in Hungarian.

Iceland

In Iceland, the series was known in Icelandic as "Tommi togvagn og vinir hans" which translates to "Thomas the trolley and his friends" and was narrated by David Thor Jonsson, but the series was not very popular, possibly since there are no longer any railways in Iceland.

Character Names

Thomas - Tommi

Gordon - Gyrðir

James - Jakob

Toby - Tobbi

Indonesia

In Indonesia the series retains its English title. The series was dubbed from the eighth season onward.

Trivia

Michael Angelis is credited as narrator in the opening credits, even though it was re-dubbed.

In Israel, the series was dubbed into Hebrew as "תומס הקטר" (Tomas HaKatar, "Thomas the Locomotive") and was later reintroduced as "תומס הקטר וחברים" (Tomas HaKatar VaH̱averim, "Thomas the Locomotive and Friends"). However, the series has still been aired as "תומס הקטר" on certain channels. The first and second seasons aired on the Hop! Channel in 2000, the eighth to fourteenth seasons aired on the Israeli Educational TV and the fifteenth, seventeenth and twentieth season onwards have aired on Hop!. Each series was narrated by Simcha Barbiro, Ron Druyan and Dan Schatzberg respectively. When the Israeli JimJam channel began offering alternative dubbed versions of its content, Nir Ron narrated a different dub of the older seasons.

Trivia

The Adventure Begins, The Great Race, Journey Beyond Sodor and Big World! Big Adventures! have not yet been dubbed into Hebrew and it is unknown whether or not Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, Hero Of the Rails, Misty Island Rescue, Day of the Diesels and Blue Mountain Mystery have or will ever be dubbed either. The sixteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth seasons had to be skipped due to various reasons.

The Island of Sodor was not mentioned by name in the Hop! dub of the first and second seasons.

Edward's nickname Eddie was used in the Hop! dub as his proper name. Since the Educational TV dub of the eighth season, his formal name has been used instead.

The word "fireman" was mistranslated as "כבאי" (kabai, "firefighter"). The proper term for a steam engine fireman is "מסיק" (masik, "stoker").

Terence's name was mispronounced as "Trance".

Tender engines were referred to as "coal engines" (referring to their "coal cars"), with no specific term for tank engines.

In the Hop! dub of the fifteenth season onwards:

HiT Entertainment's name was mistransliterated as "היט אינטרטיימנט" ("Hit Intertaiment"), instead of "היט אנטרטיינמנט" ("Hit Entertainment"). Several names of the original production crew were mistransliterated as well.

The UK voice cast is credited, albeit with their names in Hebrew, despite the show having been re-dubbed.

In the seventeenth season, Sharon Miller was incorrectly credited as head writer and writers from the thirteenth-sixteenth seasons were still mentioned in the credits, as well as Nitrogen Studios, even though the Arc Productions logo still appeared.

Trivia

The Italian dub of the first and second seasons credits Ringo Starr as the narrator and the third season credits Michael Angelis, even though they were re-dubbed, but the rest of the credits are in Italian.

Because in Italian the term "Locomotive" is a female term, all the engines are referred to as females from the first to the fifth season.

Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and Thomas and the Magic Railroad were never dubbed in Italian.

In Japan, the series is translated as "きかんしゃトーマス" (Romaji: "Kikansha Tōmasu" - Thomas the Locomotive). Thomas is extremely popular in Japan due to the prevalence of railways in everyday life. This version of the show has also had individual voice actors since the model series. It was broadcast on Fuji Television from the first season until the eighth season and broadcast from the ninth season to the thirteenth season on TV Tokyo and recently on NHK and Cartoon Network. Leo Morimoto was the narrator from the first to the eighth season and since Calling All Engines!, Jon Kabira has been the narrator.

Trivia

In 1973, Kaye and Ward released the Japanese translation of Awdry's 26 Railway Series books. The series was translated by Kuwabara Saburou and Shimizu Shuyu. Genyuu Kuroiwa supervised the technical terms of the railway. Christopher's books, however, have yet to be translated into Japanese.

This is the first country that gave the show its own individual voice cast and dubbed in a language other than English(if counting the Railway Series).

In this version, the nameboards are used for introduction of the characters who appeared in each episode. From the eighth season, the narrator calls the title of the episode at the end of each episode.

'Arry is called "Harry".

After the eighth season, the original voice cast affiliated with Aoni Production was replaced with new voice cast affiliated with 81 Produce due to the show being switched to another broadcasting station.

In Latin American countries, the series is called "Thomas y sus Amigos" and is currently narrated by Óscar Gómez. It is often broadcast on Discovery Kids. It currently airs on Canal 5 in Mexico but used to air on Azteca 7.

Trivia

The Fat Controller was referred to as "The Fat Inspector" (''El Inspector Gordo'' in Spanish) in the first five seasons, but from the sixth season onwards he is called his real name "Sir Topham Hatt", although he has been referred to as "The Fat Controller" (without translation) a few times.

For the first to fifth seasons, the sixth season intro is used and afterwards, the engines are introduced.

The opening credits from the eighth season to the seventeenth season credited Michael Brandon and Mark Moraghan as the narrator, even though it was re-dubbed, the eighteenth and nineteenth season were the only seasons where they credited Óscar Gómez and the voice actors, from the twentieth season onwards, the voices from the US dub are credited.

The official website had not been updated since the release of Misty Island Rescue. Also, the videos on the site use the narration for Spain.

Jack and the Sodor Construction Company has never been dubbed.

Intro Sequence Namecards

Latvia

In Latvia, the series is called "Tomas un Draugi" and is narrated by Robert Dreija. The narration uses a voice over method similar to the original Ukrainian dub of the first four seasons and the Lithuanian dub.

The opening titles credited the UK narrators and not the Norwegian narrator. The norwegian narrators are credited on VHS however.

On home video, during seasons 1-4 and 6, the narrator read the episode's title. This stopped after the eighth season. Although, in some eleventh season episodes, the narrator says the episode's title because the title card is missing.

Gordon's catchphrase changes between "Oh, so undignified!", "Oh, how nefarious!" and "What a humiliation!"

Since the thirteenth season, Tidmouth Sheds is referred to as "Tidmouth Station". In the fifteenth season, it is sometimes referred to as "Tidmouthstallen" which means "Tidmouth Sheds".

In Trine Lossius Borg's narration, Duke is called the Norwegian word for Duke, "Hertugen".

When the Fat Controller's name is used, they do not say "Bertram", they say "Topham".

The eleventh season episodes use the eighth-tenth season opening, end credits and Engine Rollcall. The fourteenth and fifteenth season episodes use the thirteenth season Engine Rollcall.

Like in the UK and US, the fifteenth season aired before Day of the Diesels, barring the last three episodes.

Since the fifteenth season, Arlesdale End is called "Arlesdale Station".

Bash and Dash often switch voices.

Dart's catchphrase is "Digre Dieseler" which means "Giant Diesels".

For unknown reasons, the last three episodes of the fifteenth season aired five months later than the rest of the season when it first aired.

The thirteenth season episodes on television have title cards, but on the DVDs the title cards are removed and the narrator reads the episode's title.

The first six seasons aired on NRK1 until 2006. TV2 started broadcasting in 2007 starting with the eighth season. In autumn 2014, the series was made available to RiksTV (seasons 1-4 and 8-9) and CMORE play (seasons 1-4) users. As of 2016 the show once more airs on NRK via NRK Super starting with the 18th season.

In 2016, starting from the eighteenth season onwards, the series gained a completely new voice cast and the characters now speak a lot more regional dialects.

Norwegian is one of few languages in which The Railway Series has been translated in, although only a few select books from the original 26 were translated.

Portugal

In Portugal, the series is known as "Thomas o Trem Azul" translated into "Thomas the Blue Train" or "Thomas e os seus amigos" translated into "Thomas and his Friends". This is narrated by Pierre Borsan.

Trivia

The Russian title sequence of the first to twelfth seasons credits Ringo Starr and Michael Angelis as the narrators, even though it was re-dubbed. This is common in most dubs, but the title and credits in the opening were audibly translated in Russian.

The twelfth season, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, Hero of the Rails, Misty Island Rescue, Day of the Diesels, Blue Mountain Mystery, Tale of the Brave and The Adventure Begins were never dubbed in Russian.

Scotland

In Scottish Gaelic, the series is called "Tomas is a Threud", which in English translates to "Tomas and his flock" and is narrated by Ian MacAmhlaigh. It is often shown on BBC Alba

Character Names

Thomas - Tòmas

Edward - Eideard

James - Seumas

Percy - Pearsaidh

Toby - Tobaidh

Emily - Oighrig

Diesel - Dìosail

Duncan - Dhonnchadh

Annie - Annag

Clarabel - Clarabeileag

The Fat Controller - Riaghladair Reamhair (The Fat Ruler)

Farmer McColl - Farmer MacColla

Trivia

The narrator did not read the episode's titles from the point that the ninth season was released.

Serbia

Serbian logo

In Serbia, the series is known as "Tomas i drugari" (or "Томас и другари" in Cyrillic writing), but is also recently known as "Thomas, parna lokomotiva". It is currently shown on Minimax in Serbia and is narrated by Bojan Žirović.

Trivia

Early VHS / CD episodes credit Ringo Starr as the narrator even though the show has been dubbed.

The seventh to twelfth seasons were never broadcast, but the names of the characters introduced in those seasons can be found in magazines.

The first to fifth seasons were highly localised with location names replaced by Slovenian ones with similar roles. The Island of Sodor was referred to as "otok" (simply "island"). In Coal, Welsh coal is replaced with "Trbovljski premog" (coal from Trbovlje - Slovenia's largest coal mine). In The Flying Kipper, Crewe works is referred to as "Zalog" (town near Slovenian Railroad's largest railroad workshop). In Break Van, it is said the twins came from the Gorenjska region of Slovenia instead of Scotland, more precisely from Jesenice (city in said region, home to Slovenia's largest steelworks) instead of Glasgow. Their accent is also different as it is not Scottish but is regional dialect from Gorenjska.

Since the thirteenth season, several names of characters changed.

Since the thirteenth season, episodes are plagued by incorrect literal translations of (British) technical terms and jokes. For instance, "trucks" are often referred to as "tovornjaki" (lit. lorries - correct term would be "tovorni vagoni" - freight wagons), "funnels" are called "lijaki" (lit. funnels - correct term would be "dimniki" - chimneys/smokestacks) and so on. In Charlie and Eddie, for example, Charlie's jokes are translated literally and since the puns are English exclusive, they do not function when translated.

In Sweden, the series is currently known as "Thomas & Vännerna" (Thomas & Friends) today, but it has also gone under the names "Det lilla Ångloket Thomas" (Thomas the little steam engine) and "Thomas Tåget och hans vänner" (Thomas the train [sic] and his friends). Louise Raeder narrated the first versions of the firsttwo seasons. Håkan Mohede later re-dubbed the first two seasons and narrated the third–seventh seasons. Since the eighth season, the series has been narrated by Claes Ljungmark.

Ukraine

In Ukraine, the series is known as "Паровоз Томас та його друзі" and was later introduced as "Томас і Друзі" and was narrated by lector Mykola Koziy (Микола Козій) with the translations done by Oleksa Nehrebeckyj. The narration for the first four seasons uses a voice over method, as the Ukrainian voice track is layered over the original English track, a common practice in Eastern Europe. The first four seasons were the only seasons dubbed until seasons seventeen and eighteen were dubbed, most likely because of how big Russian is in Ukraine's culture.

The Ukrainian dub of the first four seasons were only ever aired from 1997-1998 and were never re-broadcasted.

Trivia

The Ukrainian dubs of the first and second seasons have Ringo Starr's voice in the background, season three has George Carlin's voice in the first thirteen episodes and the last thirteen episodes of season three as well as all of season four have Michael Angelis' voice.

Wales

In Wales, the series is called "Tomos a'i Ffrindiau" (originally "Tomos y Tanc a'i Ffrindiau" and is narrated by John Ogwen. It is often broadcast on Cyw, S4C's children's block. Episodes are available for catch up on the S4C website and the BBC iPlayer for a week after they have aired.